A suggested outline for this chapter.
1. The siege of Jerusalem is in progress, Jeremiah 33:1-5.
2. God will bring health and healing to His people, Jeremiah 33:6-13.
3. The promise of the Messiah, the Righteous Branch, Jeremiah 33:14-18.
4. David and the Levitical priests, Jeremiah 33:19-22.
5. The promise to David and the patriarchs, Jeremiah 33:23-24.
While Jeremiah was in prison, God came to him a second time and said He is the Creator of all things and the LORD is His name, Jeremiah 33:1-2. God says, ‘Call me, Jeremiah, and I will answer you’, Jeremiah 33:3.
Jeremiah is urged to pray by God, but why? Perhaps because Jeremiah, in prison, is becoming fearful and despondent. God needs him to be strong, after all, he still has further messages to deliver to the people.
Jeremiah has no way of knowing what other penalties he will face from the people. So, God gives him further messages. The first one presented to him is one of plunder upon the city, Jeremiah 33:4. ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of men,’ Jeremiah 33:5.
The idea seems to be that, since there wouldn’t have been time to bury the dead, they just threw them into the empty houses. God has hidden His face from this city because of all of its wickedness, Jeremiah 33:5.
God is said to hide His face, or veil His face, when, 1. He has no regard for human affairs, Psalm 10:11. 2. To show His displeasure, Isaiah 54:8. God cannot look upon wrong.
Some scholars believe that this is why Jesus Christ said from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Matthew 27:46 / Mark 15:34. But we have to remember that God didn’t and never did turn His back on Jesus, not even on the cross, Psalm 22.
Once again, God states His plan to bring health and healing to His people and the restoration of peace and plenty to the land, Jeremiah 33:6-7.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This must respect the latter times, for the ten tribes did not return with the Jews at the termination of the seventy years.’
This is proof that this is Messianic, as seen in that both kingdoms, the Northern and the Southern, Israel and Judah, are promised a share in the blessings. A sure indication that every Jew, no matter from what tribe he comes, along with every other human nation, will receive the same blessing. The reference to the cleansing of sin and the forgiveness of sins, Jeremiah 33:8, is sufficient to prove that this section is Messianic.
The nations may never submit to His truths, but there will be fear and trembling when they go against His people again, Jeremiah 33:9. The purpose of this plan of God is that His people will once again be a people to be respected.
In doing this, God Himself will regain His reputation amongst all the nations. Judah, by her spiritual adultery, had dragged God’s name into the mud. Nations around not only mocked the Jews but mocked the God of the Jews, Jeremiah 33:10.
God was about to change that; all nations will praise God and respect Him, Jeremiah 33:11. There will be sounds of joy and gladness, Jeremiah 33:11. Judah will sing songs of praise to their God, for His mercy and goodness in allowing them to return home.
Scribner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In Psalms 106:1 / Psalms 107:1 / Psalms 108:1 / and Psalms 136:1, some of the words of this passage are incorporated into the Psalms and, from this, we gather that they became a regular part of the liturgical worship in the Jewish temple.’
The nation will also prosper again, Jeremiah 33:12-13 / Jeremiah 31:12 / Jeremiah 52:5 / Jeremiah 31:31. There are some truly good and encouraging prophecies in this section.
As this was written while the siege was still in progress, while Jeremiah was still a prisoner, whilst Zedekiah was still king, this is a prophecy of what the desolation of the city will be like.
God says in those days and at that time, He will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line, and he will do what is just and right in the land, Jeremiah 33:15 / Jeremiah 23:1-8.
He also says in those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called, The LORD Our Righteous Saviour,’ Jeremiah 33:16.
This is one of the most difficult chapters to understand, and the reason is that there is no evidence that the Northern kingdom, Israel, came back from captivity.
Jeremiah did prophesy the end of David’s line of kings in Jeremiah 22:30. Jeremiah also prophesied the end of the Levitical system in Jeremiah 33:16. So, scholars are quick to challenge this.
So, what does Jeremiah 33:17 mean? Is there a contradiction here? We can do one of two things.
1. We can deny the authenticity of this chapter, that it wasn’t written by Jeremiah, but added by someone else later.
2. We can read it as a Messianic blessing, written to encourage those who were returning from Babylon.
I believe that the second reason must be correct. After all, the whole chapter seems to be speaking of the coming Messiah, so why should this section be different?
Remember, this was written to God’s people. They, therefore, needed to understand what was being said. Words are just symbols, often used to express spiritual uses.
The Jews could use these symbols. So, what we have here is this: the Davidic kingdom and the Levitical priesthood are symbols which represent, to the Jew, the continuation of God’s covenant.
The new covenant will come with the Messiah, when, in a sense, these two promises will continue but in a different form. The Messiah, Jesus, is the king, who will be the king forever, Revelation 11:15.
Under the new covenant, we Christians are the priests, 1 Peter 2:9 / Revelation 1:5-6, and Jesus is the High Priest, Hebrews 4:14-16. So, what about those sacrifices that were offered continually by the priests? Hebrews 13:15-16 / 1 Peter 2:5.
God says, ‘I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line,’ Jeremiah 33:15. Jeremiah doesn’t reveal as much about the coming Messiah as Isaiah does, but he restates what he said in Jeremiah 23:5, about the ‘righteous Branch’.
And whoever this person is, he has this term ‘righteous’ or ‘righteousness’, referred to him twice. Here in Jeremiah 33:16, we have a reference to his character, his way of judging. The second reference concerns his actions, the right way of living.
Harrison, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He spoke of the Messiah as ‘The Spring of Living Waters’, Jeremiah 2:13, ‘The Good Shepherd’, Jeremiah 23:4 / Jeremiah 31:10, ‘The Righteous Branch’, here and in Jeremiah 23:5, ‘The Redeemer’, Jeremiah 50:34, ‘The Lord Our Righteousness’, Jeremiah 23:6, ‘David the King’, Jeremiah 30:9, and as ‘The Agent of the New Covenant’, Jeremiah 31:31-34.’
Isaiah 11:10-11 / Zechariah 6:11-14 / Revelation 22:16 all talk about Jesus. A point that needs to be made quite clear here is that Zechariah 6 is not a fulfilment of Jeremiah 33:15.
The High Priest, Joshua, was a ‘type’ of the Branch, not ‘the’ Branch, which is Jesus Christ. I suppose that you could say that it is a play on words because the name Jesus in Hebrew was Yeshua or Joshua.
Notice here that it is to be Jerusalem, representing Judah, which would be called the ‘Lord of Righteousness,’ Jeremiah 33:16. This seems to be saying that the day would finally come when the people would be an example of holiness. David is never going to lack a man to sit on his throne, and the Levites will always have a man to stand before God as intercessor, Jeremiah 33:17-18.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning Jeremiah 33:18.
‘This is a repetition of the promise made to Phinehas, Numbers 25:13.’
God places the impossible before Jeremiah, Jeremiah 33:19-20.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘And how are all these ‘descendants of David?’ By virtue of all Christians being ‘in Christ,’ they are thereby sons of David and also sons of Abraham, Matthew 1:1 / Galatians 3:29. Also, all Christians are priests unto God.’
Genesis tells us that God established the order of day and night, Genesis 1:19-27. So God is saying, if you, Jeremiah can break my covenant with day and night, Jeremiah 33:20 / Jeremiah 31:36, and then my covenant with David and the Levites can be broken, Jeremiah 33:21.
God says He will make the descendants of David His servant and the Levites who minister before Him as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore, Jeremiah 33:22 / Hebrews 13:15-16 / 1 Peter 2:5 / 1 Peter 2:9.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This must be understood of the spiritual David, Jesus Christ, and his progeny, genuine Christians. The two families which God chose for the priesthood, that of Aaron and Phinehas, or, on its being taken away from him, that of Ithamar, 1 Samuel 2:35, are both extinct. Nor has the office of high priest, or priest of any kind offering sacrifice, been exercised among the Jews for nearly eighteen hundred years; what is said here of the priesthood must refer to the spiritual priesthood, at the head of which is Jesus Christ.’
The nations surrounding Judah had thought that Judah and Israel had had their day, Jeremiah 33:23-24, but God is restoring the covenant, Jeremiah 33:25-26. I suppose we could sum this up this way.
The Old Covenant will be restored until the Messiah, Jesus, arrives, and then a New Covenant will come into play, where Jesus is in the line of David and the Levites, the priests, are those who are in the priesthood, Christians, Revelation 1:5-6.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Things looked pretty bleak for God’s people at this time. Shortly, they would go into exile in Babylon for a period of seventy years. The glory of their past would be forgotten by many; it seems like the end of all hope. But God had it all planned out; some of the descendants of David would return to their homeland. And, in the course of time, Mary, a descendant of David through Nathan, would give birth to the Messiah, not in a palace but a smelly Bethlehem stable, Luke 2:1-20.’